Look on your states education site, go to the school and ask for the Parents special ed rights handbook. Your family member is correct, I know here my dog could get speech therapy. That must be the cheapest, my son is refused OT because " His problems do not interfere with his educational needs." They look for more of fine motor and at grades. He is fortunate that he is highly intelligent, just can't sit still , be patient, have impulse issues, etc... They don't consider those here to interfere so I provide him with things to help him control those problems. Il. requires a student to have in class with them anything that will help him through his day. My director of Sp. Ed is a witch, and I am not just saying it she is known through out the surrounding school districts, the state has come and done an investigation, but she still reigns. That is why I say educate yourself on as much as possible before you go in, have the guidelines in front of you highlight them, find out your rights on tape recording, I am allowed so long as I tell them and give them the option to do as well. You never know you might have the easiest time ever! Regardless go in armed with information! Shock them that you know your rights, it can be intimidating I have been on both sides of the table, I prefer the other side! lol They know you are not knowledgeable regarding your rights and believe me they will use that. I know this sounds terrible but I have been going through this since my older son started Early CHildhood special ed. and he only needed speech! If you have time involve yourself as much as you can in the school this works wonders! I am close with the principal, teachers of all grades, students, etc... Because the Spec. ed dept will not help my son, the principal and asst. principal do! They have helped me to get him pulled form lunch to eat in a quiet room, to only have ot be in music class for 15 min, he gets to be office runner even if there is nothing on the paper just so he can get up and move a bit because they will not pull him for OT to get that time away he might need to regroup ! I was on PTA for 2 years, volunteer for reading for other grades besides my own child's, did the bulletin boards, all of this brought me very close to he principal ( and lets admit it the asst. principal is cute lol) So unfortunately a little booty kissing can go a long way, and in this case it is important because it is for my child!!! Oh and lol I just saw your last post about forgetting it! hahahahahaha Well... good luck!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep us posted ( no pun)